As most all of us already know, most all of the union orchestra jobs are listed in the International Musician, the monthly periodical of the AFM.

As I thumbed through the May edition, lo and behold on page 24, at the bottom left corner is a MyAuditions ad!

Pleased to see they are promoting their service but I am most curious as to why the AFM would allow MyAuditions to place an advertisement in the IM, when clearly MyAuditions is either a direct or indirect competitor (depends on your point of view) of their orchestra job postings?

Kind of like allowing Microsoft to advertise on the IBM Web site.

I really don't think that the AFM's audition ads are enough of a moneymaker for them to cause them to be threatened by MyAuditions. The AFM gets the vast majority of its funds from annual and work dues paid by its members. The fact that the IM has historically been the repository for audition ads is more a matter of convenience than monopoly. I can't imagine the AFM objecting to the existence of MyAuditions' ad service, since musicians don't become union members to read the ads, anyway...

Sam Bergman
viola, Minnesota Orchestra
news editor, ArtsJournal.com
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

Sam,

Think again. I received the IM today and didn't see the MyAuditions ad so I sent an email to them to inquire why their ad no longer appeared.

quote:

Because MyAuditions post both union and non-union positions, the AFM has apparently decided that they will no longer allow advertising by MyAuditions in the International Musician.

This is a bunch of bull since I have seen job postings by European orchestras that have absolutely no affiliation with the AFM. Furthermore, what about the schools that advertise? Are they affiliated with the union?

I hate it when I am right.

I guess this is another reason why one would not want to join the union.

Well maybe the good folks at International Musician were tipped off by this very thread!

Why would the IM or AFM for that matter really care what is posted on these forums unless it was of a highly critical or insulting nature?

I would think that myauditions actually compliments the IM and vice versa.

We seem to be forgetting that both the IM and myauditions are for the benefit of musicians, whether they be union or non-union.

In my experience (which is considerable in this area,) those at the top levels of the AFM care relatively little what benefits musicians and what doesn't. They are primarily concerned with their own grip on power, and defending their professional position against the countless other opportunists who would take everything from them given half a chance.

I should qualify this obviously inflammatory statement by pointing out that there are dozens, maybe hundreds, of well-meaning, hard-working, and competent AFM officials working at the local level, and I've even known a few in the New York office who fit that description. But like any union, the top positions come with a great deal of power attached, and they therefore attract individuals whose main aim is to achieve great power. The potential for corruption is obvious, and even the most level-headed individual might become quite paranoid working in such an environment.

All of this is a long way of saying that, while I still don't understand what kind of threat MyAuditions poses to the AFM, I'm not terribly surprised to hear that the ad has been yanked. Consider it a symptom of a larger infection.

Sam Bergman
viola, Minnesota Orchestra
news editor, ArtsJournal.com
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA